Sunday, February 10, 2008

Portsmouth

He says a sky of blue and a landscape of green
balances the human mind.

But back in the real world of desks and offices,
computer screens and colleagues,
the lack of balance makes the world spin
at an angle that feels somewhat less than jaunty.

Back amongst the jokes and jaunts
and jollity of weddings to come,
the overheard conversations,
the petty frustrations,
the bureaucratic defenses,
the world is closing, folding in and over.

Behind my desk, I am subsumed
beneath a sea of paper, a tide of tasks,
the endless duty England has come
to expect of every man, woman and child.

This city, these walls; the space, the place
in which my shape took form.

I am tied to your horizon with a concrete heart.